The Blue Mountains - Katoomba, and Leura

 WE went to the Blue Mountains to sign the lease on a rental for the missionaries.  It was about 1 & 1/2 hours from Sydney.  What an amazing view.  The weather was cool and you definitely felt the fall/winter climate in these beautiful mountains.

This is Wentworth Falls.  We didn't get to climb all the way down in but we made it to the top of the falls and back to the parking lot before the park closed at 6pm.  After all, we did have to work!

The next time we will hike all the way down.  But this gives you a feel for some of the beauty of this land.  We ended the night at The Three Sisters Lookout Point.  They light them at night - so we are trying out the range of our camera shooting.  Notice the work clothes - Elder Feil did take his tie off and I put on a pair of pants to hike down to the falls.  The signs said it would take us twenty minutes to get back to our car.  But being the amazing physically fit old folks that we are, we made it in ten minutes!  Woo Hoo!!

The Road to Wollongong

The work in the office continues at a brisk pace and we are learning all of our detailed duties.  Each day there are some new challenges.  Elder Feil is becoming an astute bookkeeper/accountant, bill payer and communicator with realtors (for potential leasing of flats for missionaries), medical offices (to pay bills for injured or sick missionaries), mail delivery boy, and occasional irritant to the financial workers next door. Oh, well, I will get better as I repent and learn all the ropes.  Sister Feil is becoming a crack shot at letter writing and tracking arriving and departing missionaries.  She always welcomes missionaries to the office when they arrive for meetings or other business and has only lost track of one missionary who barely spoke english and whose flight was re-routed through Brisbane due to heavy fog in Sydney. But, he finally arrived safe and sound, even though tired.  The mission president and his wife travel hundreds of miles throughout the mission in order to visit the missionaries, teach at Zone Conferences, address issues with wards, stakes, branches and districts.  Then there's the time required to deal with the mission being split starting July 1st.  We see their itinerary and  throughout their travels  we become acquainted with the magical, entertaining and unique names of places in New South Wales like Ulladulla, Katoomba, Narooma, Leura, Wooloomooloo.  And with that in mind we decided to visit Wollongong for our weekly adventure.  The photos above show the beautiful sights that we saw, including a visit along the beaches of the Tasman Sea.  Though it's winter here, the water is not as cold as the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

Not only did we think it's a beautiful area, there were three wedding parties that agreed and were capturing their wedding memories as the sun set on the harbour at Wollongong.  The beaches and harbour are surrounded by unusual evergreen trees and pelicans abound.  We ended our visit at Wollongong with an excellent dinner at a local restaurant overlooking the harbor and it only set us back $ 50 AUD.
If anyone's interested, Molly still feeds the missionaries-last Sunday 3 hungry missionaries followed by 3 more today.  It's very enjoyable to have the missionaries in our home.  They bring a great spirit with them and remind us why we are here.  We are now ready to begin another busy week in the office.  We are ready to welcome new missionaries to the area who will help advance the work of the Lord.  And we are ready to say farewell to those who have faithfully served for the past two years.  The cycle of missionary life goes on.

Family Home Evening

We had a wonderful gathering of Senior Missionary couples on Monday evening.  We had a very nice meal and then we all had an opportunity to share some personal experiences.  These personal stories were very enjoyable, spiritual and uplifting.  Many related to their conversion to the restored gospel.  Others were about some of life's events that influenced family members and friends for good.  Some were about how responding to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost actually protected children from danger or harm.  One reported how prayer helped saved his life in a dangerous situation.  God does watch over each of us.  The couples serve in various assignments:  Family History, Public Relations, Temple President, Legal Counsel, and in the mission office.  The first picture includes Elder Williams, Elder and Sister Tanner, Sister and Elder Kohlert.  The second picture includes Elder Kohlert, Sister and Elder Haynes, Elder Feil, Matron and President Barr of the Sydney Temple.  By the way, the Australia Sydney Temple was built in 1984.  We attended a session last Friday evening.  It's small but beautiful.

Tender Mercies

While we were in the office on Friday, there was the biggest racket outside - it sounded like 100 monkeys all chattering at the zoo.  Another missionary who has been here longer told me that it was a kookaburra because it sounds like someone laughing.  We walked out and I took this video.  And yes, I think it sounds like laughing.  It is a marvel that you can experience it right outside our work.  Our day usually consists of answering the phones, paying bills for missionary apartments, sending letters to parents, missionaries, and church leaders, and visiting with missionaries as they come to the office to pick up supplies.  It is amazing to feel the wonderful relationships between the President and his wife, the Elders and Sisters, and their love and concern for those they teach and those they hope to teach.  We enjoyed a fireside on Sunday with recent converts.  Some were from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Samoa, and Australia.  Some were 10 or 11 years of age, and others were 20's and 30's and 40's.  They all told their story of finding the gospel of Jesus Christ and learning that He loves them and is interested in their progress in this life.  It was inspiring and uplifting and reminded us that we too are loved by God and He is always mindful of the details of our lives.  The pictures include Tom and the Wallaby, the Koala experience, the cute Echidna, the crazy Cassowary, the noisy Kookaburra, and finally the Wild Wombat.  

A Week of animals - or Noah's week - rain and animals

 We went to the Wildlife Preserve at Featherdale.  It is a favorite place for all the tourists.  There were lots of birds in cages and walking around, but our favorite experiences were with the animals up close and personal.  We petted the Koalas, touched the Kangaroos, saw the baby joeys, and watched the flying foxes, or fruit bats fight over their food.  We took lots of videos but as yet we are still learning to upload to our blog.  They seem to be too big to upload at this point.  We are amazed the the creations of God and find great joy in learning and observing and experiencing  all that this wonderful world has to offer.  We are truly blessed to be here and will share a few more pictures and tell a little more about our day to day life down under.